Fiberglass
Fiberglass or fibreglass is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be flattened into a sheet, or woven into a fabric; the plastic matrix may be a thermoset polymer matrix—most based on thermosetting polymers such as epoxy, polyester resin, or vinylester—or a thermoplastic. Cheaper and more flexible than carbon fiber, it is stronger than many metals by weight, can be molded into complex shapes. Applications include aircraft, automobiles, bath tubs and enclosures, swimming pools, hot tubs, septic tanks, water tanks, pipes, orthopedic casts and external door skins. GRP covers are widely used in the water-treatment industry to help control odors. Other common names for fiberglass are glass-reinforced plastic, glass-fiber reinforced plastic or GFK; because glass fiber itself is sometimes referred to as "fiberglass", the composite is called "fiberglass reinforced plastic". This article will adopt the convention that "fiberglass" refers to the complete glass fiber reinforced composite material, rather than only to the glass fiber within it.
Glass fibers have been produced for centuries, but the earliest patent was awarded to the Prussian inventor Hermann Hammesfahr in the U. S. in 1880. Mass production of glass strands was accidentally discovered in 1932 when Games Slayter, a researcher at Owens-Illinois, directed a jet of compressed air at a stream of molten glass and produced fibers. A patent for this method of producing glass wool was first applied for in 1933. Owens joined with the Corning company in 1935 and the method was adapted by Owens Corning to produce its patented "Fiberglas" in 1936. Fiberglas was a glass wool with fibers entrapping a great deal of gas, making it useful as an insulator at high temperatures. A suitable resin for combining the fiberglass with a plastic to produce a composite material was developed in 1936 by du Pont; the first ancestor of modern polyester resins is Cyanamid's resin of 1942. Peroxide curing systems were used by then. With the combination of fiberglass and resin the gas content of the material was replaced by plastic.
This reduced the insulation properties to values typical of the plastic, but now for the first time the composite showed great strength and promise as a structural and building material. Confusingly, many glass fiber composites continued to be called "fiberglass" and the name was used for the low-density glass wool product containing gas instead of plastic. Ray Greene of Owens Corning is credited with producing the first composite boat in 1937, but did not proceed further at the time due to the brittle nature of the plastic used. In 1939 Russia was reported to have constructed a passenger boat of plastic materials, the United States a fuselage and wings of an aircraft; the first car to have a fiber-glass body was a 1946 prototype of the Stout Scarab, but the model did not enter production. Unlike glass fibers used for insulation, for the final structure to be strong, the fiber's surfaces must be entirely free of defects, as this permits the fibers to reach gigapascal tensile strengths. If a bulk piece of glass were defect-free, it would be as strong as glass fibers.
The process of manufacturing fiberglass is called pultrusion. The manufacturing process for glass fibers suitable for reinforcement uses large furnaces to melt the silica sand, kaolin clay, colemanite and other minerals until a liquid forms, it is extruded through bushings, which are bundles of small orifices. These filaments are sized with a chemical solution; the individual filaments are now bundled in large numbers to provide a roving. The diameter of the filaments, the number of filaments in the roving, determine its weight expressed in one of two measurement systems: yield, or yards per pound. Examples of standard yields are 450yield, 675yield. Tex, or grams per km. Examples of standard tex are 1100tex, 2200tex; these rovings are either used directly in a composite application such as pultrusion, filament winding, gun roving, or in an intermediary step, to manufacture fabrics such as chopped strand mat, woven fabrics, knit fabrics or uni-directional fabrics. Chopped strand mat or CSM is a form of reinforcement used in fiberglass.
It consists of glass fibers held together by a binder. It is processed using the hand lay-up technique, where sheets of material are placed on a mold and brushed with resin; because the binder dissolves in resin, the material conforms to different shapes when wetted out. After the resin cures, the hardened product finished. Using chopped strand mat gives a fiberglass with isotropic in-plane material properties. A coating or primer is applied to the roving to: help protect the glass filaments for processing and manipulation. Ensure proper bonding to the resin matrix, thus allowing for transfer of shear loads from the glass fiber
Caravan (towed trailer)
A caravan, travel trailer, camper or camper trailer is towed behind a road vehicle to provide a place to sleep, more comfortable and protected than a tent. It provides the means for people to have their own home on a journey or a vacation, without relying on a motel or hotel, enables them to stay in places where none is available. However, in some countries campers are restricted to designated sites. Caravans vary from basic models which may be little more than a tent on wheels to those containing several rooms with all the furniture and furnishings and equipment of a home, they are used principally in North America, Europe and New Zealand. In Europe, the origins of travel trailers and caravanning can be traced back to travelling Gypsies, showmen who spent most of their lives in horse-drawn caravans. Samuel White Baker purchased an actual Gypsy caravan in Britain and shipped it to Cyprus for his tour in 1879; the world's first leisure trailer was built by the Bristol Wagon & Carriage Works in 1880 for Dr. William Gordon Stables, a popular author of teenage adventure fiction, who ordered a "gentleman's caravan".
It was an 18-foot design, based upon their Bible Wagons, used by traveling preachers in America's Wild West. Stables named it Wanderer, he travelled around the British countryside in it and wrote a book documenting his travels in 1885 called The Gentleman Gypsy. This moved the Duke of Newcastle to commission The Bohemian. By the turn of the century,'caravanning' for leisure had become an popular activity. In 1901, the first dedicated caravanning club was established; the Camping and Caravanning Club was founded by the father of modern camping. The Caravan Club was founded in 1907 with Stables as its vice president, its stated aim was to "... bring together those interested in van life as a pastime...to improve and supply suitable vans and other appliances...and to arrange camping grounds." Caravanning gained popularity in North America in the 1920s. Modern travel trailers come in a range of sizes, from tiny two-berth trailers with no toilet and only basic kitchen facilities, to large, triple-axle, six-berth types.
Caravans the Vardo, have served both as a significant cultural icon and symbol of the nomadic Gypsies. Until the early 19th century, Romani caravans served as a means of transport and not as a domicile. At the beginning of the 19th century, more Romani people began to live in their caravans instead of sleeping in tents; the caravan offered greater protection from weather conditions and could be outfitted with modern amenities such as wood-burning stoves. Caravans were commissioned to be built at the request of newlywed couples and their families; the small-scale, pre-industrial methods of the builders and the labour-intensive nature of the building process meant that a family's caravan could take up to a year to build. Trailer caravan is defined in ISO Standard 3833:1977, Road vehicles - Types - Terms and definitions, term No 3.2.1.3. In the United States and Canada, the history of travel trailers can be traced back to the early 1920s, when those who enjoyed their use were referred to as'tin can tourists'.
As time progressed, trailers became more liveable and earned a new name in the 1930s and 1940s, the house trailer. In the 1950s and 1960s, the industry seemed to split, creating the two types that we see today, that of the recreational vehicle industry and mobile home industry. Today travel trailers are classified as a type of RV along with motorhomes, fifth-wheel trailers, pop-up trailers, truck campers. Smaller travel trailers and pop-ups are still made with touring in mind; these are less than 18 feet long and contain simple amenities. By design, they are quick to set up or prepare for travel. Most weigh less than 3,000 pounds and can be towed with a large car or small truck depending upon its towing capacity. Lightweight pop-up trailers weighing less than 700 pounds, such as the Combi-camper and Kamparoo can be towed by small economy cars; some exceptionally light travel trailers can be pulled by motorcycle or bicycle. Fiberglass body construction entered the U. S. scene in 1971 with the introduction of the first U.
S.-produced mini travel trailer, called the Playpac. The Playpac, invented by Steven Whysel, was the answer to the needs of the growing horde of VW "Bug" and other small-car owners who wanted a hard-shelled camper, light enough to be pulled by a small car, it came with a private water closet and the ability to sleep six. Its ultramodern aerodynamic styling and domed skylight by the modernist industrial designer Toshihiko Sakow made it an instant hit, it was short-lived, however, as the first Arab Oil Embargo and the ensuing major slow-down of RV sales caused it to cease operations. The Boler travel trailer, was developed in Canada in 1968, soon joined the Playpac in the U. S. fiberglass light-weight class. The Hunter and Amerigo travel trailers were on the scene by then. Mid-range travel trailers are 18 to 25 feet long, can weigh 5,000 pounds or more, are towed with compact pickup trucks and SUVs, they sleep fewer people. Larger travel trailers are made with the full-time user in mind; these range from 25 to 40 feet long and contain all the comforts of a luxury condominium.
These amenity-laden models can reach 12,000 pounds or more, requiring a purpose-built tow vehicle, highway tractor or large truck or SUV. While trailers may weigh in above that, mo
Masonite
Masonite is a type of hardboard, a kind of engineered wood, made of steam-cooked and pressure-molded wood fibers in a process patented by William H. Mason; this product is known as Quartrboard, hernit, torex, treetex or pressboard. A product resembling masonite was first made in England in 1898 by hot-pressing waste paper. Masonite was patented in 1924 in Laurel, Mississippi, by William H. Mason, a friend and protégé of Thomas Edison. Mass production started in 1929. In the 1930s and 1940s, Masonite was used for applications including doors, walls and canoes, it was sometimes used for house siding. Similar "tempered hardboard" is now a generic product made by many forest product companies; the Masonite Corporation entered the door business as a supplier of facings in 1972, was purchased in 2001 by Premdor Corporation, a door maker, from its former parent International Paper. It no longer supplies generic hardboard. Masonite is formed using the Mason method, in which wood chips are disintegrated by saturating them with 100-pound-per-square-inch steam increasing the steam or air pressure to 400 pounds per square inch and releasing them through an orifice to atmospheric pressure.
Forming the fibers into boards on a screen, the boards are pressed and heated to form the finished product with a smooth burnished finish. The original lignin in the wood serves to bond the fibers without any added adhesive; the long fibers give Masonite a high bending strength, tensile strength and stability. Unlike other composite wood panels, no formaldehyde-based resins are used to bind the fibers in Masonite. Artists have used it as a support for painting, in artistic media such as linocut printing. Masonite's smooth surface makes it a suitable material for skateboard ramps. Masonite is used by moving companies. Among other things, they use it to protect the walls of buildings where they work, lay on floors to enable smooth rolling of dollies loaded with goods. Masonite is used in construction in renovations where floors are finished prior to other work and require protection. Sheets of 1⁄8-or-1⁄4-inch Masonite are laid over red rosin paper on finished floors to protect them; the Masonite sheets are taped together with duct tape to prevent shifting and to keep substances from leaking through.
Masonite is used extensively in the construction of sets for theater and television. It is common in theaters as the stage floor, painted matte black, it is considered one of the best materials for making a musical wobble board. Masonite 4-by-8-foot panels are sometimes sawn into 4-inch by 8-foot strips; these strips are used to form the edge of sidewalks where curved shapes are desired when pouring concrete. Masonite is a popular choice for cake boards for professional cake decorators, since it is a natural product and is strong enough to support multiple-tiered creations such as wedding cakes. To a lesser extent, Masonite is used in guitar bodies, most notably by Danelectro. Due to its low cost and flexibility, Masonite is used as the curved surface of skateboard ramps. Masonite was a popular protective backing for wooden console stereo and television cabinets from the 1960s to the 1980s. Due to its flexibility, Masonite is used by model railroaders for their layouts as fascia, to cover the structural materials used for the layout.
Masonite swells and rots over time when exposed to the elements, may prematurely deteriorate when it is used as exterior siding. In 1996, International Paper lost a class action suit brought by homeowners whose Masonite siding had deteriorated; the jury found. Masonite International Engineered wood Fiberboard Glued laminated timber Hardboard Medium-density fiberboard Oriented strand board Particle board Plywood Pressed wood Paintings on Masonite by Joan Miró The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth, Diego, Señor Xolotl by Frida Kahlo Masonite Doors
Thor Industries
Thor Industries, Inc. is an American manufacturer of recreational vehicles. The company sells towable and motorized RVs through its subsidiaries brands including Airstream, Heartland RV, Livin Lite RV, others; the company's headquarters is in Indiana. It has manufacturing facilities in Michigan, Indiana and Oregon. Thor Industries, Inc. was founded on August 29, 1980, when Wade F. B. Thompson and Peter Busch Orthwein acquired Airstream from Beatrice Foods; the name "Thor" combined the first two letters of each entrepreneur's name. Airstream had not fared well during the economic downturn of the late-1970s, losing $12 million the year before it was acquired. Thor restructured Airstream—laying off managers, they reduced fraudulent warranty claims by dealers, changed the product line, returning Airstream to profitability in its first year under the new Thor management. The company continued to grow through effective management and a series of acquisitions: 1982—Thor purchased the Canadian company, General Coach, which manufactures travel trailers and motorhomes.
Part of this acquisition was Thor America, which manufactures Citation and Chateau travel trailers and fifth wheels. 1984—Thor became a public company and in 1986 was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. That same year, Forbes magazine ranked Thor sixth out of the "200 best small companies in America." 1991—Acquisition of Dutchmen, a brand of fifth wheel and conventional travel trailers. 1992—Four Winds International, manufacturer of class A and C motorhomes acquired. 1995—Komfort, a maker of fifth-wheel and conventional travel trailers, Skamper, a builder of folding camping trailers, became members of the Thor family. 1996—Launch of Thor California and the introduction of the Tahoe and Wanderer brands of trailers and fifth wheels. These products became instant hits among the recreational vehicle community and the fastest-growing brands on the market. With the acquisition of Keystone RV in 2001, Damon RV in 2003, CrossRoads RV in 2004, Thor Industries became the largest RV manufacturer in the world.
Additional milestones include: 2010, September—Thor Industries' subsidiaries Damon Motor Coach and Four Winds International merged to form Thor Motor Coach. THOR Motor Coach has become the top retail== selling motorhome manufacturer in North America. Thor Motor Coach produces several brands of Diesel Pushers, Class A, Class B Plus, Class C Motorhomes that are distributed in the Italy, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Japan and the United States. 2010, September—Acquisition of Heartland Recreational Vehicles, LLC, a held RV manufacturer based in Elkhart, for $100 million in cash and 4,300,000 shares of Thor Industries, Inc. common stock, subject to adjustment. The acquisition was Thor’s first major purchase since 2005 and just two weeks after its 30th anniversary. 2013—Acquired Livin Lite RV, a manufacturer of lightweight aluminum trailers sold under the CampLite and QuickSilver brands. 2016—Purchased Jayco, Inc for $576 million. 2018—Purchased Hymer. In 2017, Thor was number one in the RV market with a 48% market share.
Forest River was second with about 34% of the market, followed by Grand Design and Winnebago with about 3% each. In fiscal year 2017, 71% of the Thor's sales was in towable RVs, 27% in motorized RVs, with 2% in other segments. During that same period 91% of sales were in the United States. Recreation vehicles Airstream Bison Coach, horse trailers with living quarters Breckenridge CrossRoads RV Cruiser RV DRV Dutchmen RV Entegra Heartland RV Highland Ridge Hymer Jayco Keystone RV KZ RV, founded by Daryl Zook in 1972 and acquired by Thor in 2014. Livin Lite RV, founded by Scott Tuttle and acquired by Thor in 2013. KZ took over management in March 2016 and shut the division down in 2018. Redwood RV Starcraft RV Thor Motor Coach Venture RVOther Postle Aluminum Co. Commercial bus unit was sold to Allied Specialty Vehicles, now REV Group in 2013; until that time, Thor had been the largest mid-size bus manufacturer, having acquired ElDorado Motor Corp. National Coach, Champion Bus and Goshen Coach companies between 1988 and 2012.
Ambulance manufacturing company, SJC Industries, sold to Allied Specialty Vehicles, including the McCoy Miller and Marque brands in 2013. Thor Industries, Inc. Wade F. B. Thompson, Who Rebuilt Airstream Brand, Dies at 69
Astronaut transfer van
The astronaut transfer van known as the Astrovan, is a NASA vehicle used at the Kennedy Space Center to transport astronauts from the Operations and Checkout Building to the launch pad before a launch mission, to the pad for launch dress rehearsals, back to Operations and Checkout Building following a shuttle landing. According to driver Ronnie King, the astronauts like the history-filled vehicle if it is somewhat old, argued against upgrading the vehicle. "We were staged to get a new one," King said, added that word came that the rookie astronauts wanted to keep the vehicle, a tradition of the astronauts who traveled those nine miles to the pad before them. During the twenty-minute drive from the Operations and Checkout Building to the launch pad for shuttle launches, the Astrovan stops at least once along the way. An astronaut rides with the crew to the Shuttle Landing Facility, is let off there to board the Shuttle Training Aircraft and assess local weather conditions. Senior NASA management ride along as well, are dropped off at the Launch Control Center.
The current model, best known as the Astrovan, is a modified 1983 Airstream Excella motorhome, has been in use since the STS-9 mission in November 1983. Early shuttle flights had fewer crew members, so they used the Apollo-era astronaut transfer van; that vehicle is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's Apollo/Saturn V Center. Space Shuttle Mobile Quarantine Facility NASA Crew Transport Vehicles This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
USA Today
USA Today is an internationally distributed American daily, middle-market newspaper that serves as the flagship publication of its owner, the Gannett Company. The newspaper has a centrist audience. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, it operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters on Jones Branch Drive, in McLean, Virginia, it is printed at five additional sites internationally. Its dynamic design influenced the style of local and national newspapers worldwide, through its use of concise reports, colorized images, informational graphics, inclusion of popular culture stories, among other distinct features. With a weekly circulation of 1,021,638 and an approximate daily reach of seven million readers as of 2016, USA Today shares the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States with The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. USA Today is distributed in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, an international edition is distributed in Asia, Canada and the Pacific Islands.
The genesis of USA Today was on February 29, 1980, when a company task force known as "Project NN" met with Gannett Company chairman Al Neuharth in Cocoa Beach, Florida to develop a national newspaper. Early regional prototypes included East Bay Today, an Oakland, California-based publication published in the late 1970s to serve as the morning edition of the Oakland Tribune, an afternoon newspaper which Gannett owned at the time. On June 11, 1981, Gannett printed the first prototypes of the proposed publication; the two proposed design layouts were mailed to newsmakers and prominent leaders in journalism, for review and feedback. The Gannett Company's board of directors approved the launch of the national newspaper, titled USA Today, on December 5, 1981. At launch, Neuharth was appointed president and publisher of the newspaper, adding those responsibilities to his existing position as Gannett's chief executive officer. Gannett announced the launch of the paper on April 20, 1982. USA Today began publishing on September 15, 1982 in the Baltimore and Washington, D.
C. metropolitan areas for an newsstand price of 25¢. After selling out the first issue, Gannett expanded the national distribution of the paper, reaching an estimated circulation of 362,879 copies by the end of 1982, double the amount of sales that Gannett projected; the design uniquely incorporated color graphics and photographs. Only its front news section pages were rendered in four-color, while the remaining pages were printed in a spot color format; the paper's overall style and elevated use of graphics – developed by Neuharth, in collaboration with staff graphics designers George Rorick, Sam Ward, Suzy Parker, John Sherlock and Web Bryant – was derided by critics, who referred to it as "McPaper" or "television you can wrap fish in," because it opted to incorporate concise nuggets of information more akin to the style of television news, rather than in-depth stories like traditional newspapers, which many in the newspaper industry considered to be a dumbing down of the news. Although USA Today had been profitable for just ten years as of 1997, it changed the appearance and feel of newspapers around the world.
On July 2, 1984, the newspaper switched from predominantly black-and-white to full color photography and graphics in all four sections. The next week on July 10, USA Today launched an international edition intended for U. S. readers abroad, followed four months on October 8 with the rollout of the first transmission via satellite of its international version to Singapore. On April 8, 1985, the paper published its first special bonus section, a 12-page section called "Baseball'85," which previewed the 1985 Major League Baseball season. By the fourth quarter of 1985, USA Today had become the second largest newspaper in the United States, reaching a daily circulation of 1.4 million copies. Total daily readership of the paper by 1987 had reached 5.5 million, the largest of any daily newspaper in the U. S. On May 6, 1986, USA Today began production of its international edition in Switzerland. USA Today operated at a loss for most of its first four years of operation, accumulating a total deficit of $233 million after taxes, according to figures released by Gannett in July 1987.
On January 29, 1988, USA Today published the largest edition in its history, a 78-page weekend edition featuring a section previewing Super Bowl XXII. On April 15, USA Today launched a third international printing site, based in Hong Kong; the international edition set circulation and advertising records during August 1988, with coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics, selling more than 60,000 copies and 100 pages of advertising. By July 1991, Simmons Market Research Bureau estimated that USA Today had a total daily readership of nearly 6.6 million, an all-time high and the largest readership of any daily newspaper in the United States. On September 1 of that year, USA Today launched a fourth printsite for its international edition in London for the United Kingdom and the British Isles; the international edition's schedule was changed as of April 1, 1994 Monday through Friday, rather than from Tuesday through Saturday, in order to accommodate business travelers.
Mobile quarantine facility
The mobile quarantine facility is a converted Airstream trailer used by NASA to quarantine astronauts returning from Apollo lunar missions for the first few days after splashdown. The MQF was on the aircraft carrier. Once the aircraft carrier reached port, the MQF was flown to Houston, the crew served the remainder of the 21 days of quarantine in the Lunar Receiving Lab at the Manned Spacecraft Center; the purpose of the quarantine was to prevent the spread of any contagions from the moon, though the existence of such contagions was considered unlikely. It functioned by filtering any air vented. In June of 1967, NASA awarded contract to design and build the four MQF's to Melpar, Inc. of Falls Church, VA. Lawrence K. Eliason was the head project manager; the MQF contained living and sleeping facilities as well as communications equipment which the astronauts used to converse with their families. The Apollo 11 crew used this equipment to speak with President Nixon who welcomed them back to Earth aboard the recovery ship USS Hornet after splashdown.
The trailers housed the three crew as well as a physician and an engineer who ran the MQF and powered down the command module. Four MQFs were built for NASA: The quarantine requirement was eliminated following Apollo 14 once it was proven the moon was sterile and that the facilities were therefore unnecessary. Film footage of President Richard Nixon speaking with the Apollo 11 astronauts in their mobile quarantine facility on the USS Hornet Crew transport vehicle
.jpg)
